Indie extreme metal support blog

Parasite Inc.

PARASITE INC. short interview about their latest activity

Could you introduce us your new second guitar player Dominik with his history?

Kai: Well, I’m pretty new to Dominik and don’t know him well yet.
He is a founding member of his former pop-rock band “Livid Halcyon” in which also Benni played before. The band split up in 2012 and after being apart from the music for a while he joined us now. He also loves cool beer and is a very relaxed guy and tight a player.

What happened with Kevin? Weren't there any bad feelings between the band and him?

Kai: Frankly said, we all had our downs with that situation but there are definitely no bad feelings between us basically and we are still good friends like we were before.
Kevin had and has some plans, struggles and continuous changes in his life that started to make it difficult for both of us to keep going together in the future.

The whole process started already a while back in 2013 and after he got a great opportunity at the end of last year to work outside of Germany, we had to find a solution how we could go on without losing too much time again with such problems.

Well, how was your latest show at Rock am Härtsfeldsee last weekend?

Kai: Totally amazing and another awesome experience! We were happy and thankful to welcome so many people in front of the stage and to the signing session after the show.
Only the set was planned a bit too tight: We packed the 30 minutes with songs but forgot to leave a bit time for talking. In the end we ended the set exactly after 30:00min.

How about the signing session there? Did you meet with a lot of new and old fans?

Kai: Thanks to Sepultura there were a bunch of people that missed the signing session: The promoter changed the schedule because the band wanted to see their world cup soccer game. Surprisingly a lot of people made their way to the session anyway and it was great to meet with a lot of old and new fans there!

Live photos by Rainer Ruber atKonzerpix.de(You can find more photos there!)

I heard Arch Enemy did another killer show at the fest, right? Did you see them?

Kai: Yes, I watched their entire show and for me it was also the first time with their new singer. I knew the band with Angela’s voice for around 13 years now and I still miss her a bit for that but Mrs. White-Gluz is seriously a more than worthy replacement and the show was simply killer – as usual. Can’t wait to see them again on Summer Breeze!
Stefan and I also took the chance and made it somehow to a quick and humble handshake with Michael where Stefan also gave him our CD. Probably he will rather use it as a frisbee than listen to it but it felt great to give kind of something back to the band that influenced us in many ways.

By the way, you made another awesome job with the graphic design through the new merch and the stage side banners, congrats! Did you get any feedback about it at the fest?

Kai: Thank you very much! Yes, we already got some positive feedbacks from friends and fans at the fest and just added the shirts to our online shops as well.

So, where can we buy the killer new shirts?

Kai: It can be ordered via our online-shops and we also ship worldwide:

PARASITE INC. at Out & Loud 2014

Ladies and gentlemen, here’s a complete impression of OUT & LOUD by Kai from PARASITE INC.. The lovely and talented metal guy made it with his good humor, with a lot of snap shots.

Kai: Hey folks,
it took me a while to write down some words and now after I finally found some time to finish my report, a lot of things have been already said. Time tears down, ya know? Soo expect some compact impressions and thoughts from the Out & Loud happening.

Day - 1
First day, rainy day and a late arrival after we got stuck in a traffic jam. The first impression? Friendly security staff! Yes! Well informed? Definitely not! It's not easy to find the artist check-in if no one even knows what an <artist check-in> is.

I felt a bit annoyed of all that because I seriously wanted to see Bloodspot but in the end I only could enjoy their last 2 songs. However, watching them live is always like, you know, just imagine a giant tank with 2 horns that is rolling across you while shooting thrash hits into you without a break. Annoying fact of the day: they had the ingrate opening slot. Not cool.

Awesome fact at Soulbound: "Classical" metalheads (you know the guys with the 1000 patches on their jackets) head-banging and clapping to their modern alternative metal. Genre bitching? Not at Soulbound. Their sympathetic appearance brings their unconventional metal hymns to just everyone around the stage! Awesome!

Quick facts: Festival just started - Kötty (singer/Burden Of Life) is already drunk +++ Genius: Passionate and growing crowd at the newcomer stage +++ Small talk with Danny from IAMENEMY - cheers +++ bad multi-tasking abilities - can't have small talk with several persons at the same time.+++

While listening to Legacy Of VydarI got thoughts like: A guest appearance of Johan Hegg in that band could be the most useless guest appearance in metal history because you can't make out any differences in the power of their vocals. Enjoyable and passionate show with a great sound and epic songs of the 6-piece heavy weight . Only their announcements could maybe require some little tweaks ;)

Day - 2
Friday is play day. First discussed with the uninformed security staff to reach to the equipment, which was stored in our car at the backstage area. Later I wanted to drop my guitars to the wall because of the cold night outside they were entirely detuned. I had to spend the whole time before the show with tuning my guitars instead of doing my regular warm up to be in a usable condition for the show. Personal consequence: I missed Sapiency – damn it.

Quick facts: +++ no broken strings - yay +++ acceptable in-ear monitoring - nay +++ didn't expect so many people in front of the stage - totally overwhelmed and speechless +++ Dominik was clearly nervous and screwed up the verse of <Armageddon in 16 To 9> - that’s live +++ almost no time to watch All Will Know because of too many people around the NWOGM booth +++ would have loved to thank every single person who came out to see us +++

The next band: The Last Hangmen. A hot show? It could have been one without the many windmill head-banging of everyone. What else could I say about them? Freaking awesome appearance with a tight playing... Sick!

Wisdom of the day: Drunk promoters seem to have the ability to work like the Bermuda triangle.
Never give away anything to them except you want it to be gone. We still miss some Soulbound CDs and NWOGM sampler - haha.

Day - 3

Screw some incorrect times on my running order - I almost missed the entire show of IAMENEMYand was only able to listen to the last 1,5 songs of their set. I guess they did a great show - at least the applause of the audience gave me a hint that it was a great one!

Back at the newcomer stage it was time for Burden Of Life. As for every other of the kumi666 supported and NWOGM bands, the stage was more than well visited from the start and got more filled with every further song. A bunch of their hits supported by a crisp sound only can work as a magnet for metalheads.

After 2 days of hanging out with all those great people, bands and friends, I felt a bit too bad that the dudes from Bleeding Red arrived that late on Saturday afternoon to join the party. Anyway it was awesome to meet the guys again and later watch them bringing the newcomer stage to its final with their blackened death smashers!

Quick facts: +++ compared to Johnny, Kötty still had a respectable singing voice after 2 festival days inclusive drinking +++ unknown plush toy owl made me smile +++ 3 days are far too short for such a great time +++ doing a group picture is not that easy since drunk musicians and a schedule can never exist in the same universe +++

Frankly it’s impossible to catch all that great moments in only a few lines, so for now I just want to thank and greet all NWOGM and kumi666 bands as well as all involved persons who made this great time possible. Also, a huge cheers and thanks to all the people and fans that came out to see and support the young bands on the festival!

Horns Up and hopefully see you all again at a second round!Kai ( PARASITE INC. )

Summer Breeze Open Air 2013 Live Report by Kai (PARASITE INC.)

Hey folks,

after I couldn‘t make it to the last year’s Summer Breeze Festival because of the recordings for the latest album, I finally made it to the festival again and for those who are interested I wanted to share my impressions around the festival again. So here we go with some personal words, impressions and thoughts about the festival in 2013.

Day 1 – Wednesday - The early bird gets the worm

Like many other bigger festivals in Germany, Summer Breeze already opens its doors on Wednesday for the awaited 35000 people. So I wanted to get there early to don’t get stuck in the traffic, but I did already 8km away from the venue and had to wait around an hour before I reached to the check in.
Nevertheless I felt happy with that because the people who checked in for camping had to wait 2 more hours at the entrance controls.

One of my very first impressions when I reached to the venue: everything went a bit bigger again compared to 2011 …the campground, the party tent, the area around the stages and even new: giant screens for a live broadcast of the shows. Also a lot more people were running around and I am not sure I feel happy with that “everything is getting bigger” attitude. One word: Wacken…#

So everything was a bit chaotic on the first evening: I got stuck for around 2 hours at the merchandise stand to get 3 shirts, I almost didn’t find anyone familiar and got stuck for around 30min at the entrance to the stage area. Finally I ended the first Day with Exodus and a bit Destruction.

Day 2 – Thursday – work and breeze

After I had managed my work for the band I reached to the venue almost 3 hours later than planned. Hmh, maybe I should rename my report to “Summer Breeze 2013 – bands I have missed” hahaha coz I missed a lot of bands already and even Soilwork made it into that category. Had to wait 5 years and then I only was able to watch them from the roof of my car – fail.

So the first real band on this day was Fear Factory. Maybe I will never understand why Burton can shout as hell but simply can’t hit any tone whit clean singing. However there was a really good mood in the audience and the playing of the band itself was really tight with a great list of their biggest hits.

After that I switched over to Korpiklaani . The securities in the got a lot of work with crowd surfer and the audience got some great Finnish folk metal. And at the latest with “Vodka” the last person around the stage started joining that party. Epic fail for me: I took the wrong card for my camera with me and ran out of memory. After Korpiklaani I checked Powerwolf and Sabaton but … it’s just not my type and I decided to end this day.

Day 3 – Friday – Hot day

It’s hot… really hot. Felt 38°C and I dropped by Bennies tent to calm down. The guys had just started to play flunkyball. It’s a drinking game and combines sports and alcohol consume in “metal worthy” way haha. Also Benni and I had a short meeting with Howdie from Bloodspot and it was great to see him again after such a long time - one of my personal highlights this year but too bad time passed by so fast. Well, after that I dropped at the backstage area quickly to get some food and water before rushing to my first time with Anthrax. They played a great set with their hits incl. a cover of ACDCs “TNT” that pushed the mood of the audience to the top.

After Anthrax I checked out the merchandise stands around the stage area before I went back early for the next band: Lamb Of God. The area was really packed for the first time when they opened their set with “Desolation”. What a giant chaos of jumping people and circle pits. I felt sorry for the securities in the trench and for the people who simply wanted to enjoy the show: I rarely have seen so many crowd surfer. Lamb Of God is a live force – enough said.

Right after Lamb Of God Finntroll entered the stage and ended day 3 with some “gentle” metal from Finntroll. That was a lot of fun for me since I have seen them the last time back in 2004. How time flies!

Day 4 – Saturday – Dust in the wind

Annoying heat, annoying dust: Without any rain this year, the venue changed into a giant dusty area: Everything was covered by it and I was wondering I still could see Devildriver after their start: With all the mosh pits pits and probably the biggest circle pit this year, Devildriver burned down the venue and only left a lot of…well… dust.

Dust continues at Ensiferum and I guess that I don’t need to mention that there was a serious party going on to their music before it went horrible lout with Hatebreed. It was great to see the band but I seriously can’t get into Hardcore. Simply not my type but they did a great show for sure and Amorphis felt like a tepid breeze after that monster of loudness. I almost got asleep with it this year.

So, time for the final headliner - In Flames. Thanks to Hatebreed the sound of them felt too quiet but after changing my position I had a great sound and I mean they really had a damn great sound that fitted to the killer light-show. The whole venue was packed and the crowd celebrated the band’s greatest hits. Surprisingly In Flames even played an very old song from the 97’ -Whoracle- Album… am not sure but I think it was “The Hive”. They could make that more often for sure, hehe.

After 14 songs they ended their set with a great firework and “My Sweet Shadow” and I am already eager to next year’s Summer Breeze! Why? Well, …so far confirmed: Heaven Shall Burn, Children Of Bodom, Behemoth, WIntersun, Hypocrisy and Arch Enemy… For me already a hell of a lineup! Thanks for reading and see you next year maybe! Cheers - Kai

Parasite Inc. interview about the new masterpiece Time Tears Down

Hi guys. I guess the band is doing absolutely busy at the moment with a lot of promotion stuff for the upcoming album, right? Thanks for taking your time for my interview. So, what’s up?

Hi Kumi, yes we are busy as hell promoting the album. As you know we have to take care about most of the stuff by ourselves, so there is still an endless to do list that contains such things like web programming, designing, writing promotion texts and so on… and most of it happens in the background, so most guys don’t see much of all that work.
We really can’t wait to finish all that stuff and get back to the things we really love doing as a band: playing and writing new music!

I had hesitated to call your previous self-title album as 'demo' before because it’s a brilliant record, but after listening through Time Tears Down, I felt I should admit it. Congratulations for the amazing new album! How are you feeling now with the new masterpiece?

Of course, there is always something you want to change or you feel not satisfied with. For example the sound of the lead guitar on some songs could be better (e.g. unmeant outcasts) or we should have recorded some songs a bit faster maybe (e.g. hatefilled hehe) but we tried to make the best out of our possibilities, and yes, for the first time we feel totally happy with how everything sounds.

Why did you take such a long time to release the album?

We wanted to give Wintersun the chance to release their album before we release ours, haha. But frankly, we never thought, that this really would happen :D

Seriously I have no idea. First we wanted to remix the old songs and only record the new one. But then we figured out that it won't satisfy us, so we started to rerecord all the old songs as well. Anyway the recording itself didn’t took that much time. But the mix and all the other work which went into the album, took month by month, some throwbacks included: Maybe you remember that we wanted to call the album 'back for war', but we couldn’t use that title then… so all the design stuff we made so far had to be dropped and we had to start again. I also had been busy for some weeks doing some mixing stuff for a friend’s band or at another point I was sick for some weeks and we really couldn’t work on the mix.

The album was mastered by Jens Bogren and his amazing job made your awesome songs impregnable! What do you think about it?

Jens did a killer job! Actually his master doesn’t sound that much different compared to the mix, but the devil is in the detail: Jens added some smoothness, punch and clarity to the mix (especially in the low end) which we never would have reached.

I have to say that I was really impressed by Benni’s test master as well: given his mastering equipment and experience, it sounded pretty similar to Jens' mastering. But Jens' master alwas was more round and, well, simply perfect. This guy really knows what he is doing.

Let’s focus on song by song. After the heavy instrumental opener Fire The Machine, I get huge goose-bumps in my whole body every time with the real fast killer tune Back For War. That’s insane! It seems you guys just shout out your statement as the band like 'We are right back in the scene!', don’t you?

I guess with the heat in Tokyo it's good to have some goose-bumps ;-) ?
Thank you very much for that compliment. Well, that’s right: After all the throwbacks within the last years and struggles to keep the band running, this song can be seen as a statement for us and to others… bad weeds grow tall - We won't give up and go our way.

Back For War could be a new sing-along anthem in the Parasite Inc. universe, or already it is? Did you play the song at live already? If so, what kind of reactions did you get from the audience?

Oh, I am not sure. We can’t tell someone to sing along to our songs but it’s always such an honor if people shout along to our songs!
We play the song live already and the reactions are really great. We have seen people sing a long to that song even we haven't released any lyrics yet.

About the following track Time Tears Down which is a new song as well: It has some kick-ass guitar riffs and a catchy solo. Since the song also appears as the album title, it stands as the representative song on the album, right?

Yes that’s right. But it also represents the whole bands' development: It’s the latest song we have written and everybody was involved in the songwriting. Also, I think it’s the strongest song we have ever written so far and together with 'The Pulse Of The Dead' it maybe also shows in which direction our music will develop in the future…

The Pulse Of The Dead must be the most well-known new song on the album at the moment, isn’t it? The music video hit more than 20,000 views within a month, that’s awesome! How are you feeling about it?

Surprised? Stunned? I am not sure. We feel happy about the awesome response, that’s for sure! However, The Pulse Of The Dead is just another song for us and we simply want to go on, keep it metal and create our own vision of the music we love.

The next question is about one more new song In The Dark which is one of my new favorites at the moment. Can you explain about a lyrical aspect of the song?

The song is about the struggle of being trapped in an addiction: You know you should quit, but you can’t (may it be smoking or alcohol or whatever). If you are addicted to something you propably start isolating yourself from your social environment and the addiction becomes the center of your life: It's only you and the addiction. So the song captures that situation but also should be a mirror to the listener to start thinking about his own addictions and how they influence him.

The bonus track Dead Life has a bit different taste from the real album songs and it must be fun for fans! Could you tell me why you got the idea to make the nice catchy song and put it on the album as bonus track?

Well, it was the first song we have ever written, but it never worked out in rehearsals and also we once decided to drop the keyboard as a lead instrument in our songs. So the song got archived at first but I felt it could be a good song and continued working on it from time to time over the years. Finally, I re-recorded the song in 2011 and actually wanted to use it only for myself with a couple of other re-recorded and unreleased songs but somehow Benni listened to it and came around with the idea to release it as a bonus track on the album. I guess he can tell you more about it.

Yes, I definitely wanted that song on the album, because it also shows quite a bit of our band development. When we started out as a band, we were quite heavily influcenced by Children of Bodom. I wouldn't say that we copied them, but what we did clearly sounded like the COB influcenced melodic death metal you can hear quite often in that genre. But it quickly became clear, that what we really wanted was creating our own style. We don't wanted to be yet another 'Sounds like...' band. Of course, you can hear influences of the bands we love and hear a lot in all our songs, but honestly, I can't say 'We sounds like...' - well, except: PARASITE INC.

Let’s move to our familiar songs which are old but still awesome. You put whole real tracks from the self-title album to Time Tears Down and all old songs were rerecorded. They are absolutely fitting with the new songs, aren’t they? Did you take care about the order or anything else?

The sound was something we have been worried about for a long time during the mixing process: they are often really different in their basic style (some are more thrashy others tend to be more power metal or even have a rock touch). So it did cost us some nerves for sure to find the right sound for the songs xD

Every old song came back with a more powerful and thicker sound, plus I found some obvious difference between olds and renewed songs like the intro of Unmeant Outcasts. Could you explain those new old-songs one by one to new listeners?

Oh, this is going to be a long explanation, but I'll try to write it compact haha :D.

Well, the first old song on the album is 'Chaos Inside':
A mid-tempo track which is one of the early songs we have written. It’s about personal struggles and is still one of my personal favorites.

Then we have 'Function Or Perish':
An up-tempo-viking-thrash-death-punk-whatever song and yes, the opening riff is our revere to the founders of the melodic death metal genre: AT THE GATES. The song has some socialcritical lyrics.

And then there is 'Armageddon in 16 to 9':
A fast power metal influenced song with some fast guitar licks and a catchy punk chorus. It’s a fun song about an 'end of the world' party.

Somehow 'The Scapegoat' could also be a hard rock song after the opening riff but of course with screams instead of clean vocals. The song is about some revenge and wrath stuff.

'Unmeant Outcasts' is a statement to all the people who don't accept others as they are. It's a statement about being strong and going your own way.

With 'Hatefilled' we pushed the gas pedal for the first time and at the time I wrote this song, I was really depressed and angry with the world around me. The lyrics are truly not a masterpiece but overall the song is fast and angry metal for sure hehe.

The last old song that also ends the album is 'The End Of Illusions': A slow and heavy one with a totally reduced and simple riffing but with a lot of atmospheric keyboards in the background. It’s about the moment when you recognize that you have lost everything in your life and you feel like an empty shell, actually not knowing anymore, how to go on but you still continue to do so somehow.

Since I love Hatefilled and The End Of Illusions as best in the olds, I’m feeling happy to find them again in the last of the new album. Do you think is there any options to put another song to the end of the album?

Actually, we can't imagine to end the album with any other song. 'The End Of Illusions' feels perfect as the final song on the album.

I also would like you to tell me about Parasite Red. How did you get an idea to make it real?

We already have been in the recordings of the album, when Timo joined us to perform 'Function Or Perish' and … I seriously can’t remember how it happened finally. We always have been so stoked by his powerful voice and asked him, if he would like to perform parts of the song as a guest singer.

Actually the idea was to split the vocals in the song, but when we wanted to mix it, it didn’t work out well. Anyway, we definitely wanted his voice in that song, so we made an additional special version with only his vocals!

Timo is a wonderful vocalist for sure and Function Or Perish with his vocals made me realize how different voices you guys have. Timo is the right man for Bleeding Red and your brutal low-vocal style fits perfectly to Parasite Inc.. So, I can use the saying 'the right man in the right place.' What do you think about it?

That’s totally right. Timo has a really unique and powerful voice. I can’t imagine a lot of other songs from us with Timos voice but also couldn’t imagine my voice in songs from Bleeding Red. But with 'Function Or Perish' it just seems to fit perfectly - actually both, the vocals and our thoughts about the statement the songs makes. However, I still would love to do a 'live revenge' singing one of their songs. I really love the music of the guys. For those who read this, if you don’t know Bleeding Red, check them out: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoGsIwm5ffY

Could you tell me your upcoming live schedule, by the way?

We are still busy promoting and releasing the album, so we didn’t have much time yet to take care about gigs, but have a few coming up: 20th July we will have our release party at our local town Aalen, later this year we will have a gig in Prague and a gig in Swiss is already in work.

I’ve heard you are going to have a show with Burden Of Life and Soulbound. Is that true? If so, it’s going to be killer!

Oh yes, we also have a gig with those guys in Regensburg. We seriously can’t wait to meet with the guys there. It will be in September so check out our websites for announcements and updates.

Please leave some message to your fans.

We REALLY want to thank all people out there for their response to the album and for their support. Stay heavy and keep it metal!

Thank you so much!!! You guys are the best!

Thank you so much too for the interview and keep up your awesome work! You’re the best!

PARASITE INC. – The Pulse Of The Dead lyrics

For metalheads who would love to shout out -The Pulse Of The Dead-, here’s the official lyrics of it. Check it out with the energetic epic live-atmospheric music video for every headbanger in the world!

The Pulse Of The Dead

Verse:
Heartbeat - can you be faking?
Dead inside - I'm waking
Beat me! I feel a little sick!
Where is the trick?

Your lies are on to kill me…
kill the pulse inside me...
Can't you show me a bit more?
… cut me a sore

Parasite Inc. interview about the first official music video “Pulse Of The Dead”

How was the very first music video shooting of “Pulse Of The Dead” after the long hard work for the upcoming full-length “Time Tears Down”?

Kai: I can tell you, it was a lot of work to do within a very short time but it also was quite a lot of fun. A while ago Kevin came along with the idea to shoot a video on a theater stage and after we finished the album recordings we finally had the opportunity to realize exactly that idea. As you know we don’t have a big budget at our hands so the theater location gave us a lot of possibilities to realize a great metal video even on that low-budget level. Also we didn't have much experience with video production, so it has been an exciting week for us.

As far as I know, the lighting effects are fabulous, and you guys used some actor for the music video, right? Can you tell me about the visual story of that?

Kai: Yes, we had access to the professional lighting equipment of the theater that supported the song during the filming. Btw. the whole film crew consisted only of the band, one camera man and one actor (which is a friend of mine). At the moment we are in the post-production with the video and it already looks powerful and quite impressive.

Actually, I don’t like metal videos that only concentrate on a story and don’t even show any band action at all. I want to see some f'ing shredding and of course I want to see some serious head-banging, haha! However, it’s our first video and the song gave us some ideas to visualize a tiny “story” as well. So we recorded that part, but we are not sure if it finally will make it in the video yet. As long as we are not sure about that, I can’t tell you much about the “story”.

Do you have any funny episode behind the scene?

Kai: Hell yeah, we have a lot of funny moments. But it’s hard to pick something out and describe it with words because mainly it were some messed up stage actions. But they’re caught on tape and we will make a making of video for sure ;)

You guys have a wonderful new bass player – Stefan Krämer in the video, by the way. Can you introduce him to Parasite Inc. fans?

Kai: Well, Stefan, who actually is called 'Krämer' and barely responds if you call him Stefan, has been around the band for quite a while now and is also good friend of us. Actually he’s also the drummer of the thrash metal band “Torment Tool”, so he really knows how the rhythm section should work together!
Anyway, after Basti left the band we first had no idea for a replacement but somehow he offered to help us out. During the rehearsals we quickly figured out that he fits really well with the band and the decision to make him the new bass player and an official member wasn't hard at all! Btw, his first gig with us was pretty much the best gig we've played so far! So if that isn't a good start...

Well, the new album is getting mastered now, right? How’s it going?

Kai: That’s right. It’s going great so far. The mastering is done at Fascination Street Studios by Jens Bogren who already produced bands like Kreator, Soilwork, Amon Amarth, Dark Tranquillity, Opeth and many more well-known metal bands… All bands we are fans of and listen to! We've got a test master already and hell, it sounds epic.

Oh, that’s really cool! I’m looking forward to watching the video, listening to the new album and having a full-length interview with you again. Good luck.

Kai: Thank you. We are looking forward to it as well. Have a great time, stay tuned and see you again very soon.

BLOODSHOT DAWN Live report from Germany by Kai (Parasite Inc.)

Kai: Hey folks, here is a small and short report about the "Back To Black Tour" (Bloodshot Dawn + Vader + Aborted + Bonded by Blood + F.h.o.b.i.). Hope you enjoy it :)

A couple of weeks ago I heard about Bloodshot Dawn will hit Germany for the first time and after following the band for a longer time now I seriously couldn't miss this great tour package seriously! So, together with Kevin, a buddy and his friend from Barcelona (Spain) we started our trip to the concert at Ingolstadt (Bavaria).

After a drive for around 2 hours through the cold German countryside we reached the venue right in time at "doors open" on 18.00 and we got our first surprise: we have been the only one. Inside maybe around 5 more people.

I expected a lot more audience with that line-up and felt a bit disappointed for the bands but less the first band didn't seem to care about it at all: F.H.O.B.I. (Crossover Metal from South America). Actually it's not my type of metal but I felt like they brought a sunny mood to the cold Germany with a passionate acting and playing (their bass player is an animal on his 6-string!).

After F.H.O.B.I. had finished their set, Bloodshot Dawn entered the stage and started their set with -Beckoning Oblivion- and I never had expected they would be such a tight live band. But from the first second I was hijacked by tight shredding guitars and drums, superfast lead melodies and bass playing and a Josh that looked like the devil himself on stage.

I am not sure but unfortunately they ended their set already after 5 songs (at least if felt like they played much too short). Hope they will come back to Germany soon and play a headlining show in front of a big audience!

Well, the audience... Meanwhile there have been some more people but I was really wondering where the people have been on this evening? Maybe there are no metalheads in Bavaria or... well, I've experienced it over again that metalheads here only come to see "their" bands and are not interested to listen to the "smaller" support acts. The friend from Spain even felt confused: She never experienced such a metal concert with a small and silent audience. I don't know about other countries but I simply think that it’s not a good attitude to only come to see the main acts.

However I spent the rest of the evening with checking the other bands and was happy to be able to see all that great metal bands from all over the world. And personally I really hope that Bloodshot Dawn make it back to Germany soon (maybe as a headlining act or on a festival). :)

Parasite Inc. interview on Oct 2012

“...The movie dropped our whole concept and we had to find another one...”

Hi Kai, How have you been? I’ve heard that you guys finished an artwork for the upcoming album. Is that true? If you could reveal it on this blog, it would be awesome.

Kai: Hi Kumi, we’ve been fine but very busy. Well, the information about the artwork is right. We finished it and we think it perfectly mirrors the album.

Oh, that looks fabulous! As you said it looks perfect for mirroring the album concept as far as I know at this moment. You always deal with machines and societies as crimes/enemies and there’s some people (or every human being?) as victims, and all things could happens through the medium of “time”, I feel it from your past songs. Can you tell me your thoughts about the concept a bit?

Kai: Well, actually Benni came around with the idea: He seized the idea of the old cover and tried to rebuild it. But then we got a feeling like “Yes, that’s it!”. Like I told you before we rerecorded the old songs, so the cover is a kind of bridge to our first inofficial release. If you compare both cover you can see the development and I think it fits well to the colder and darker sound of the album.

It also mirrors the lyrical side of the songs. The lyrics contain thoughts and experiences with life, time and also society and the cover contains all that elements. I don’t want to describe too much about it because I think people should have their own thoughts with the things (if they even take the time to have one ;) ).

In my last interview, you guys told me the new album would be titled ‘Back For War’ but you’ve already replaced it to ‘Time Tears Down’, right? What happened with the previous name?

Kai: Oh yes, that’s unfortunately right. We felt we had to change it because of the release of the “The Expendables 2”. The subtitle of the movie was also called “Back For War” and the design of the movie poster felt a bit too similar to our concept of the album design. So, the movie dropped our whole concept and we had to find another one. Don’t ask me… it was a search for months until we found something new that fits.

I see… you also had to change an artwork for the album, it sounds kinda time tore down your first idea for the concept, haha. Actually, the new title makes me more firing the imagination somehow. All's well that ends well anyway, right?

Kai: hahaha ya absolutely. Time is a nasty bitch haha. But even because of that the new title fits so much more haha. “All's well that ends well…” Let’s hope so ;)

I also found something impressive in the art by the way. You placed a logical brand new band logo as initials in the dial of the clock. I think it’s reversible, you can see it in the right direction even you turn it upside-down, right? Who’s idea?

Kai: Yes, that’s right. It’s an “Ambigram” again and actually it was a silly idea of me: We still have been searching for a picture-mark beside the word-mark. So I made a lot of drafts and also overworked the old ambigram logo… without any satisfying success. You can see in the picture below a tiny history of our band-logos. It was a long search again but I think we finally have found our elements now and feel 100% happy with it. Looks cool hu?

Well, I am going to say something nasty to you, haha. I mean you also told me in the last interview that you could be sure you’ll release the new album before Wintersun do, and as you know it became your epic fail already, haha. How is the album production going?

Kai: hahahaha :P Well, epic shame on us but who could have known they really release it this year. Actually I am just wondering how fast time passes by: The last interview was in May and now it’s October… so, how can I say, the production is going a bit at moment. Even now that everything is recorded we are still struggling with the final mix and I have become careful with any prognosis about a release date. Nobody of us is a studied sound engineer and we also don’t have the advantages of a professional studio facility (nor we have the money to give it away for mixing). The bit we have, we need for the mastering process then. All we can do is work hard and kick our asses to the limit. Time will tell.

Yeah, time will tell for sure. I hope it won’t be “time tears down”, joking. Keep at it guys!

PARASITE INC. interview about the upcoming new album!!!

Well, I know you guys are just working hard for the upcoming album. How is the recording process going?

Kai: Hey Kumi, thanks for asking. Yeah, recording time is always quite a tough time, but so far everything worked well. The mountain of tasks is shrinking slowly but constantly. The guitars have been done already, drum tracks as well and most of the bass parts too. At the moment we are working on the vocals, keyboard and effects stuff and after that we will have to work on the album cover, the new website and stuff like that.

Benni: Well, Kai summed it up pretty well. I just can say that he is spending an incredible amount of time on the new album. You know, he is quite the perfectionist. But I totally agree on that. I mean, this will be our first album released by a label!

Can you tell me any details about the new album?

Kai: Sure. After we signed with our label GoodDamn Records we wanted to release the new album as fast as possible, but we soon realized two problems: first of all we weren’t able to write about 10 to 12 new songs in such a short period of time. Well, writing so many songs maybe wouldn’t have been a problem, but writing so many really good songs which also would have fit and felt like Parasite Inc., that was the problem!
We also felt that we were not completely done with the existing songs yet and that they simply don’t have the sound they deserve. That was the second issue that bothered us and that’s why we decided to re-record all the existing songs again and get the best out of them this time.

Benni: Yes, you know, we played the old songs live for quite a while now and constantly improved subtle things. And after Kevin joined the band his playing style and especially his tightness added even more character to the songs especially to the rhythm parts. That’s another point why we finally decided to re-record the old songs, too.
I should also add that we were on a very tight budget with the last album. We didn’t have much money to spend on the recording and mixing process. Hendrik did a good job with first album given this tight budget. But we feel that with the better equipment and the experience we have now, we get much closer to the Parasite Inc. sound we have in mind and want the album to sound like this time.

Kai: Yeah! Anyway, back to the album details: the album is called “Back For War”. I think the name fits pretty well because of two reasons: in the last years we struggled a lot to keep the band running. Changes in the line-up as well as personal throwbacks made it sometimes very difficult to bring the band forward. But well, the band still exists, we’ve got some kickass new songs and last but not least we have a label now and we are ready for our first official release! And here is the preliminary track list for you:

1. Intro
2. Back For War
3. Time Tears Down
4. Chaos Inside
5. Function Or Perish
6. Armageddon in 16 to 9
7. Pulse Of The Dead
8. The Scapegoat
9. In The Dark
10. Unmeant Outcasts
11. Hatefilled
12. End Of Illusions

Kai: Oh and we have planned some surprises as well but obviously I can’t tell you more about it right now, wouldn’t be much of a surprise otherwise wouldn’t it?

Wow, cool. As far as I saw the list, there’s four new songs plus the new intro, right?You mean, the new material has the same atmosphere as the rest of the songs in the list?

Kai: Well, I feel the new tracks have a darker and more aggressive atmosphere but without losing the focus on melodies. It’s more directly into the face. Anyway I am not sure if someone who doesn’t know the old songs would hear a big difference…

Benni: …since the new ones still sound typically Parasite Inc.

I’m curious about the sound of the production. Do you think the new album will be more killer-sounding than the first release - “Parasite Inc.”?

Kai: Let me see… damn yes! When we worked on the pre-production of the new songs we also tried some of the old songs with the new sound and I can tell you that even the sound of the pre-production already was SO MUCH better hahaha.

Benni: Yeah, I definitely agree here. I think Kai especially nailed the guitar sound this time! I can’t wait to hear the final master when everything is ready! Oh by the way, that’s something we are looking into right now: since we are doing the whole recording and mixing ourselves this time, we definitely want a fresh pair of ears for the mastering process!

Kai: I've already bought a soap for your ears hahahaha :D

Hahaha. As you mentioned above , Hendrik (metalmixer.de) is an awesome sound producer and actually I don’t have any unsatisfied feelings with your first product “Parasite Inc.” but you guys are trying to aim more higher class, I’m happy to hear that :) Do you feel any pressure with it?

Kai: I am not sure if I would call it pressure, maybe rather a natural development that every band has: You try, you do, you learn, you grow. With the old recordings I would say it’s a feeling like “Okay it, was the best that was possible at that time and now we give our best again and bring it to our new limit”. We just do what we did from the very beginning: Just put all our passion into the music and try to make it as good as possible until we are satisfied with it.

Benni: Yes, definitely. You know, for us the sound of the recording is very important to make the songs sound and feel like Parasite Inc. It’s a not easy to explain, but even in the pre-production we work with sound as a big part of the songs. That’s why the pre-production almost sound the same as the final recording, just a bit more sloppily played. I think you’ll understand it best with this example: take Hatebreeder by Children of Bodom. By today’s production standards it’s not a very good production: it has relatively thin guitars and thin drums, still in my opinion it’s exactly how it should sound like. I think with this typical modern metal sound the songs on this album would lose a lot of their feeling. Well and whenever I listen to Hatebreeder I get a certain COB feeling. You know, what we try to archive is a certain Parasite Inc. feeling whenever you listen to our songs and of course whenever we are listening to them, too. And for us it’s simply not quite there with the old recording.

This is the first recording with Kevin. Is everything good with him?

Kevin: Well he is the best guitarist in the world and got the biggest balls =D

Kai: Haha. Kevin is such a modest guy as you can see, that’s what we all like about him. Yes, everything is great! We just got a new medicine from our psychotherapist that helps us bear with him :P. But seriously again, the recording with him was relaxed. He is a great and involved guitarist with great ideas and I often was amazed how exact his playing is.

Benni: Yes, definitely. As I already mentioned, his way of playing the old song was one of the reasons we wanted to record them again. He fits Parasite Inc. perfectly and we are all happy to have him in the band. On the other hand, maybe it’s just the medicine Kai mentioned ;)

This time, the album will be released by GoodDamn Records as you mentioned above. How do you feel about it? What will change with it?

Kai: Oh, I would say we still feel good with our decision. Jürgen (the founder of GoodDamn Records) is a very nice guy and we really want to thank him for his patience with the album recording so far! Actually we were supposed to have the album finished by March, but well, the delay will be really worth it you’ll see.

Okay, you mean, we don’t need to wait such a long time for listening to your new album Back For War anymore? :)

Kai: There is still much to do but we’ll work hard on it in every free minute and we don’t call our album “Time” ;). So I am sure we will be back for war very soon.

Benni: Haha, I think it’s save to promise it will be released before the new Wintersun album and definitely before the next Guns and Roses album!

Hahaha, as long as you cite Wintersun as an example, I can never feel relieved about the release date, haha. *joking* Anyway, I’m keeping my fingers crossed for you guys!

GERMAN EXTREME METAL Live at B-hof Würzburg

On 14th April 2012, finally this amazing show German Extreme Metal (organized by Hakan Gülsem) came true! It means those four kick-ass band – PARASITE INC., BLEEDING RED, ALL WILL KNOW and SOULBUND from my support bands shared the same stage at that night! Kai from one of those awesome bands PARASITE INC. showed me how it was… Thank you so much Kai for your efforts! So, here we go!

Well, how can I start now? We (PARASITE INC.) were looking much forward to that gig in several ways. First it was a honor for us to play in Würzburg with some bands we really like and listen to and that are also supported by you. Personally I was eager to see SOULBOUND and ALL WILL KNOW live and to share the stage with BLEEDING RED again after a long time.

Okay, we reached early at the venue (a really cool youth centre by the way) and first we met there was Johnny (SOULBOUND). First words of him were some greetings from Hendrik (SYRANIC) kinda like “you fuckers still haven’t sent your CD to me”. Hendrik I am sorry and hope it reached you meanwhile :).

After having a look at the venue and saying hello to some guys from the bands I wanted to hang out in a castle park near the venue but didn’t recognize the closing times. So, once I wanted to get back to the venue I was imprisoned there and couldn’t get out anymore… Uh-oh, I was in trouble, haha. Luckily a guy found me and opened the gate for me again, so I was back right in time for the show of SOULBOUND.

What can I say about SOULBOUND on stage? Beside that they are really friendly and relaxed guys(like all other people at this evening btw.) their show looked totally professional and motivating. Oh, and the songs are punching much more than on CD! Only problem for me, the show was too short ;).

SOULBOUND

Actually I feel sorry that I can’t say much about ALL WILL KNOW. I only was able to listen to the first 2 songs with a great show but I had to prepare for the gig behind the stage and couldn’t recognize much of them. Too bad coz I really like their songs and I hope I can see them once again with their complete line up.

Note: For some reason, Mo(on clean vocals) couldn’t join the show at that night.

ALL WILL KNOW

Well, how can I say about our gig? It’s always hard to describe a gig of yourself coz you don’t see it like the audience sees it, of course. So I only can speak about my personal impression and for me it felt rather as a messed up one… Kevin used my wireless transmitter and already after the intro he started losing it over again. (Dude, you jump too much hahaha ;) ). I remember Benni also dropped his sticks and personally I felt like cursed with the show: First I got electric shocks from the microphone over again, then I dropped my guitar pick over again during the songs, got nervous and messed up with playing. That never happened to me before lol. What a mess. Remember: Pick holder have their sense. However I hope the people could enjoy it anyway a bit :)

PARASITE INC.

I was relaxing then with another great show of BLEEDING RED. There’s nothing more to say about it: Great is just great! And it was really cool to share the stage again after years now :)

BLEEDING RED

After the end of the show we joined the organizer with the other bands to a metal club not far from the venue and hung out there for a while with talking, drinking relaxing and playing table football. @SOULBOUND: You have to practice ‘til our next meeting to beat Sammy ;)

All in all it was a great evening with great people and I think I can speak also for the rest of the band if I say: Thanks to you all for the awesome time and we are looking forward to see you again. Also thanks so much to Hakan for the great organization.
Stay Heavy \m/

The blast photo of guys from SOULBOUND, BLEEDING RED, PARASITE INC. and ALL WILL KNOW! (Unfortunately, Mo and Danny from ALL WILL KNOW couldn’t join in the photo. But all you guys are always on my mind!)

The comment from SOULBOUND about this photo: At this point greetings and thanks to Hakan and Kumi (Japan) for their energetic support of that quadripartite team. (Kumi, thanks a lot for all your effort and for all your support during the last years for all of us! - this show was for you!)

PS: As you maybe know we are still recording our album and I can tell you that the guitars are almost done now as well as many parts of the drums. We start with bass and vocal recordings soon then, so be prepared for the upcoming weeks with some news about it.

Thank you so much all guys from PARASITE INC, BLEEDING RED, ALL WILL KNOW and SOULBOUND. I really love you all! You guys rules! Kumi666